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ADDRESS OF POSTMASTER-GENERAL CORTELYOU 
AT THE ANNUAL BANQUET OF THE LINCOLN 
REPUBLICAN CLUB AND THE YOUNG MEN'S 
REPUBLICAN CLUB. GRAND RAPIDS. MICHIGAN, 
MONDAY. FEBRUARY 12. 1906 





LINCOLN'S INFLUENCE ON AMERICAN LIFE 






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LINCOLN'S INFLUENCE ON AMERICAN LIFE. 



Mr. ToASTMAs^R. Ladies and Gentlemen : 

You could do me no greater honor than to refer to my 
association with one, the beauty and dignity and simpUcity 
of whose Hfe were as a benediction to our people. It is appro- 
priate that we should pay tribute to his memory upon this 
anniversary of the birth of his great predecessor. They had 
nmch in connnon. Each sprang from the people, and each 
gave to the people the last ''full measure of devotion." Be- 
loved by his countrymen everywhere, no commonwealth in 
the Union gave larger evidence of faith in him than the 
State of Michigan, and your faith was never misplaced. 
You and those who come after you will find in our annals 
no purer patriot, no finer gentleman, than William Mc- 
Kinley. 

I have pleasure in expressing the deep interest in this cele- 
bration and in conveying to you the best wishes of the Presi- 
dent of the United States. And I say to you in his direct 
and hearty words, "Good luck to the people of Grand 
Rapids." 

We have with us to-night, the representatives of sister 
Republics to the south of us, the distinguished Ambassador 
of Brazil, and his colleagues in the diplomatic corps, the 
Minister of Nicaragua, the Minister of Chile, and my old 
school-mate and friend the Minister of Cuba. They recipro- 
cate our kindlv interest in the welfare of their countries 



and their good will for us is equalled by our good will for 
them. Ill friendly rivalry, but as the years go by drawn 
closer and closer in the bonds of mutual confidence and good 
fellowshii), we march shoulder to shoulder with them as the 
people of the two Americas move on to the heights of their 
manifest destinies. 

It has been a privilege to come here in the good care of my 
friend of many years, your honored Representative in Con- 
gress — William Alden Smith. We know now what you 
knew when you sent him to Washington, and we congrat- 
ulate you on your good judgment. In the National House 
of Representatives he has at heart not only the interests of 
his district but of the country at large, and he is therefore 
influential, and deservedly so, in its affairs. 

I am glad to be in the State of Michigan, and it is a special 
})leasure to have the opportunity of speaking in this busy 
and thriving city. 

The presence of the Fremont voters whom I see here this 
evening is an inspiring feature of this great meeting. You 
will, I am sure, indulge me also when I say that I have been 
greatly interested in learning that nearly a third of the popu- 
lation of this city are of good old Dutch stock. 

jMichigan is the birthplace of the Republican party. On 
the (jth of July, 1904, under the oaks at Jackson, the fiftieth 
anniversary of its birth was celebrated. The Vice-President 
of the United States (then a Senator from Indiana) w.is 
present, and John Hay, diplomat, scholar, and statesman, 
delivered the oration — one of his last notable public ad- 
dresses. 

The Republican party was born of the quickened con- 
science of the American people and among its most forceful 



influential and inspired leaders was Zachariah Chandler, of 
whom (Senator Hoar in his political history says, there was 
never a cabinet minister who approached him in the admin- 
istration of the Interior Department. For nearly a genera- 
tion he was an overshadowing personality in the United 
States Senate, and a dominant factor in the affairs of your 
commonwealth. 

Michigan has always been true to the principles advocated 
by Lincoln and his successors ; while this auditorium has re- 
sounded with the eloquence of Fremont and Blaine and Gar- 
tield and McKinley and Roosevelt. I am told that McKin- 
ley in the midst of the most bitterly contested political cam- 
paign in which he was the central figure, left his old Con- 
gressional district and came here to render loyal and unsel- 
fish service to his friends. 

He was especially interested in this city. Its push and its 
enterprise appealed to him, and the welfare of its workers was 
always a matter of his deep concern. The employees of your 
great manufacturing establishments bring intelligence and 
ambition to their tasks, and the results contribute much to 
make comfortable and attractive the homes of the world. 
You fix the standard in certain lines of trade upon the prod- 
ucts of which you can, with no impropriety, place as the in- 
scription of sterling worth — "Made in Grand Rapids." 

Every day in the life of an American should be a day ded- 
icated to patriotism, but we have properly set apart by legis- 
lative enactment, and in accordance with the dictates of our 
hearts, special anniversaries on which we recall the deeds of 
the mighty dead whose names stand out in letters of living 
light upon the pages of our country's history. Such an an- 
niversary is this of the 12th of February. 



The life we honor to-night is that of one of the most illus- 
trious of Americans. In the calendar of liberty none gives 
us greater inspiration — Lincoln the rail-splitter^ Lincoln the 
advocate, Lincoln the legislator, Lincoln the President, Lin- 
coln the Emancipator, Lincoln of the Ages ! 

The history of that wonderful career is in millions of our 
homes. It is studied in our schools. It is known of all 
nations. Few have approached it in moral grandeur. In the 
passing of the years, his fame will grow as the aspirations for 
liberty broaden within our own boundaries and reach far 
across the seas. 

I shall not attempt to recite in detail the story of his life, 
his humble origin, his early struggles, his meagre facilities 
for study, the eagerness with which he availed liimself of 
every educational influence within his reach, his honesty, his 
intuitive perception of the justice of a cause, the homeline.-^s 
of his speech and the directness of his methods, his political 
sagacity and his knowledge of human nature, his belief in 
the people and his reliance upon them, his steady growth in 
their confidence until he reached the high office with whose 
glorious traditions his name will be forever associated. How 
human he was! How tender he was! How charitable 
toward the afflicted and the erring ! With all his gentleness, 
how strong, and how completely he met the supreme tests 
that came to him in the Presidency! What an illustration 
his life afforded of the truths that early privations need be 
no bar to ultimate success; that obstacles overcome are the 
greatest of educators ; that integrity and honor and fair deal- 
ing are living factors in every real triumph, in every abiding 
fame; that faith in the people and devotion to their interests 
are essentials to lasting honor in public life. 



For the greater part of the past three-quarters of a century, 
Lincohi's influence on American life has been felt in ever- 
increasing measure. It was reflected in his contemporaries, 
and those who have followed him in the Presidency make 
no concealment of their obligation to him. During the 
weary and anxious months of the dread conflict in which he 
became the transcendent figure, his mighty spirit unfolded 
in all its greatness and simplicity. Those who at first scoffed 
came to respect profoundly, then to love him. 

Through all this land and in many a foreign clime there 
is to-day this feeling of personal affection for him and devo- 
tion to his memory. 

Upon the recurring anniversaries of his birth, we arc 
coming more and more to apply to existing needs the teach- 
ings of his life, his ideals, his achievements. There can be 
no more appropriate tribute to his memory. 

In any discussion of our national problems, we cannot 
loo often revert to the words with which he closed his 
immortal speech at Gettysburg, for in "Government of 
the people, by the people, and for the people" rests our salva- 
tion. Dangers beset us on every hand when we stray away 
from that ideal. 

I speak to-night with that ideal in mind and I shall touch 
upon a few subjects that seem to me especially worthy of our 
attention. 

It is customary to say that we are now in a period of tran- 
sition, and in this instance to say what is customary is to say 
what is true. Old theories and old methods are passing away. 
From lean years we have come to years of plenty. Pros- 
perity greets us upon every hand. Profitable employment 
awaits every man who honestly seeks work. The rewards 



c 

of toil and study and preparation were never so great, and 
never were opportunities larger for those who give to the 
State or to the nation their loyal service. Everywhere 
throughout the land the great arteries of trade throb with 
new life. Business operations that but a short time ago were 
conducted upon restricted lines, have developed into gigantic 
undertakings. We have great organizations of capital and 
great organizations of labor. American spirit and American 
enterprise are blazing the pathway of civilization. 
But as a recent writer has aptly said : 

''The commerce and manufacturing of the world 
is in its infancy. Things now considered gigantic are 
childsplay to what this age of industry and science 
will evolve. The home market will be one of con- 
tinued demand. The cities throughout the United 
States will be rebuilt; two-thirds of the area of this 
country awaits development. The spirit of enter- 
prise is taking hold of the farmers. Farm houses will 
be rebuilt, remodeled, and modernized. Streets 
throughout the country will be paved and roads im- 
proved. 

"As to exports, the whole world is now the field for 
American genius. The Old World, with its millions 
of people, is to be copper-wired, trollied, railed, and 
implemented; even the most remote districts are to 
advance to power of exchange. In everything that 
pertains to the manufacture of goods that promote 
civilization, the American excels, and besides, he not 
alone supplies markets, but studies how to create 
them." 

The new era with its expansion of territory and expansion 
of commerce has brought its perplexities and its problems. 
They are many and serious, but as we study them, however 



much we may disagree as to details of policy, there can be 
110 difference of opinion upon certain of them that are vital 
to our national welfare. Government must be honest, busi- 
ness dealings must square with the principles of right and 
justice, the things that are true and clean and of good repute 
must be exalted; and underlying the whole fabric of our in- 
stitutions we must safeguard our schools and keep pure and 
undefilcd, as the very foundation of our liberties, the 
American home. Every flippant comment upon its prob- 
lems, every improper invasion of its privacy, strikes at our 
national life. 

We must approach every public question with a deter- 
mination to be fair and just in its discussion. Reforms to be 
practical must be reasonable. They must begin among the 
people whose safeguard is the ballot through which every 
offender can be ultimately reached. 

There is no warrant for wholesale denunciation of officials. 
The people must not forget that they are themselves largely 
responsible if improper men reach positions in the public 
service. Too frequently the sternest critic is the one who 
gives the least attention to his civic duties. In the main, 
government is honestly administered. It is the legislator 
that is usually the legitimate subject of criticism, not the 
legislature ; and the judiciary, weak as it may be in some in- 
stances, has but its proportion of the unworthy. 

The founders of the republic builded Avisely when they 
created as co-ordinate branches of government the legislative, 
the executive, and the judicial. They have stood the test of 
the years. But wc need a stricter adherence to the bounda- 
ries between them so that one shall not encroach upon an- 
other. 



' 8 

It is quite popular at the moment to deprecate the accumu- 
lation of wealth and hold up to suspicion the organizers of 
great enterprises, and unfortunately there has been much 
occasion for criticism. There are too many who care for 
how much they have rather than how well they can use it; 
who fail to realize that "greai possessions are a royal trust 
from God to be employed for the benefit of mankind." 

But many of the leaders in the business world to-day, mer- 
chant princes in our cities and organizers of industry, are 
among the finest types of American life, just as in the organ- 
izations of labor, sturdy and patriotic men have achieved a 
deserved prominence. 

We demand publicity, and properly, in regard to certain 
matters affecting interstate interests, and the several States 
must have wholesome requirements as to the conduct of busi- 
ness within their borders. This is the will of the people, and 
it is right, but because there are men prominent in the busi- 
ness world w^ho are forgetful of the privileges granted them, 
and of their relations to their fellows, there is no occasion for 
indiscriminate condemnation, nor is there excuse for sensa- 
tionalism in any form. 

In many instances we have presented to us the anomaly of 
doing harm by our methods of doing good. There is too 
much of the spirit of propaganda abroad. We find it diffi- 
cult at times to learn the real sentiment of the people. There 
must be a clearing away of these superficial movements. 
What we w^ant to know is the genuine sentiment, ascertained 
after careful thought and investigation, and then it is our 
duty to carry out the people's will. Steady insistence upon 
clean living and good government will in the end meet an. 
overwhelming response. 



9 

This is a government of parties, and platforms and policies 
are essentials to party organization. No party will succeed 
that is not thoroughly organized, and when we have or- 
ganization, we must have leaders — leaders, mark you, not 
bosses. The day of the boss in American politics is on the 
wane. To put it in homely phrase, the time has come when 
the American people intend to be their own bosses. 

I believe in rewarding pal'ty service and of opening the 
door of opportunity to every worthy txspirant for public sta- 
tion ; but over its portals I would place the inscription, 
''Merit first, politics afterwards." No city government can 
be honestly and efficiently administered that reverses that 
order, and in the larger field of national service the same 
holds true in even greater degree. 

Our political campaigns must be conducted upon the high 
plane of principle, in w^hich the fullest discussion of policies 
shall be encouraged, but in which misrepresentation and 
abuse shall have no part. There has been much improve- 
ment in political methods and it should be our constant effort 
to free them from every feature that is inconsistent with good 
government. 

Hateful as the domination of the boss ha-s become, there 
is a tyranny that is worse than that of any boss — the tyranny 
of an irresponsible clamor, to which weak men bow and pub- 
lic officials at times yield their conscience and their judg- 
ment. Nothing strikes a deadlier blow at liberty than the in- 
siduous appeals made in her name in times of public ex- 
citement. Every convicted violator of her immutable prin- 
ciples should be scourged to his just punishment; but half 
a case is no case in her tribunals. Reputations that for long 
years have had the only basis that is enduring — charac- 



10 

ler — as their strength and bulwark, may be attacked and, for 
a time, sullied, but in the end our liberty-loving and fair- 
fighting people will consider the evidence and render their 
verdict, and they wdll turn and rend those who, seeking 
fame or fortune at any cost, have temporarily deceived them. 
I apply these sentiments to no particular incident or cir- 
cumstance, but utter them rather as a protest against a 
tendency of the present. And it was a righteous judg- 
ment that found expression in recent comment upon this 
tendency, that ''the means that man takes to kill another's 
character often becomes suicide of his ow^n." No man should 
be condemned upon insinuation. No man should be held 
guilty until his case is all in. Fair play must not become 
obsolete as an American trait. When we demand honest 
dealing with the people we need not resort to the villifica- 
tion of the blackguard in making our appeal. 

There must be liberty of the press everywhere and always. 
Its comment and criticism hold us to a strict accountability, 
and should be welcomed by every honest official. But this 
liberty affords no warrant for hasty generalizations or un- 
worthy attacks upon interests or individuals. Cases before 
the courts must be tried there and not in the newspapers. 
The noble mission of the press must be realized. Every 
newspaper nmst be fit for the American home, Avhere purity 
dwells and honor is sacred. 

Benjamin Franklin never said a wiser thing that when he 
uttered the words: 

"It has long been the opinion of sober, judicious 
people, that nothing is more likely to endanger the 
liberty of the press than the abuse of that liberty by 
employing it in personal accusation, detraction, and 
calumny." 



n 

Of late years there has developed a style of journalism, 
happily as yet limited in its scope, whose teachings are a 
curse and whose influence is a blight upon the land. 
Pandering to unholy passions, making the commonplace to 
appear sensational, fanning the fires of sectionalism and 
class hatred, invading the privacy of our firesides, it presents 
one of the most important of our present-day problems. 
But just as in the world of business, just as in the field of 
state and national administration, the shortcomings of a 
few must not be taken as representative of the many, so these 
journals of malign influence must not be regarded as fit 
examples of American journalism. The representative news- 
papers are true to its best traditions. While they print all 
the news, they yet make accuracy of statement and conserva- 
tism of editorial discussion characteristics of their manage- 
ment. And many of our weekly and monthly magazines 
are rendering incalculable service to the cause of good citi- 
zenship. 

From foreign shores there come to us each year a million 
immigrants. We welcome the good, we should reject the 
bad. America is the land of liberty, but not liberty to under- 
mine our institutions. In all this vast number there is one 
class that above all others must find no foothold here. While 
this is a big country, it is not now, and may it never be, big 
enough knowingly to admit into the ranks of its citizen- 
ship any avowed disorganizer of government or any avowed 
scoffer at our republican institutions. But our hands are out- 
stretched to those who come to us with worthy purpose. 
Here in the great northwest you have some of the best l)l()()d 
of the old world — men and women who have come to us 
to live and to die under the starry banner of freedom. 



12 

I cannot but feel that it is a healthful and significant ten- 
dency of American life and a tribute to the stability of our 
institutions, that in these prosperous years when we might 
become careless and forgetful, there has been an awakening 
of the public conscience to our needs and dangers. But 
great as they are, there is no occasion for pessimism. The 
faith that sustained the fathers is the faith that sustains us: 
faith in the people, faith in their capacity for self-govern- 
ment. However severe the trials, how^ever dark the outlook, 
the faith that inspired Lincoln is a living force to-day. He 
saw in the past an earnest of the future. In the noble senti- 
ment of his first annual address to Congress : 

"The struggle of to-day is not altogether for to-day, 
it is for a vast future also. With a reliance on Provi- 
dence all the more firm and earnest let us proceed in 
the great task which events have devolved upon us." 

It is the spirit that breathed through the eloquent words of 
McKinley : 

"Always perils, and always after them safety; 
always darkness and clouds, but always shining 
through them the light and the sunshine ; always cost 
and sacrifice, but always after them the fruition of 
liberty, education, and civilization." 

It was the inspiration of John Hay's noble oration at 
Jackson : 

"How infinitely brighter the future when the 
present is so sure, the past so glorious. * * * 
Our path will ever remain that of ordered progress, of 
liberty under the law. * * * ^Ve are not 
daunted by progress; we are not afraid of the light. 



The fabric our fathers builded on such sure founda- 
tions will stand all the shocks of fate or fortune. 
* * * We who are passing off the stage bid you, 
a.s the Children of Israel were bidden, to Go Forward ; 
we whose hands can no longer hold the flaming 
torch, pass it on to you that its clear light may show 
the truth to ages that are to come." 

l^^'roni these loaders who died in that faith we turn fo its 
living embodiment — Theodore Roosevelt. 

He cherishes the same traditions, he is actuated by the 
same high ideals. He is fighting, as they fought, the battles 
of good citizenship. By every consideration of loyalty, by 
recognition of purity of life, of singleness of purpose, of 
splendid grasp of the great questions of statesmanship, he is 
entitled to our unwavering and entliusiastic support. Not 
for any class or section or race or creed, he is the Eh'esident of 
all the people. And we follow where he leads. Listen to 
his inspiring prophecy for the future: 

"Succeed? Of course we shall succeed 1 How can 
success fail to come to a race of masterful energy and 
resoluteness which has a continent for the base of its 
domain and which feels wdthin its veins the thrill 
that comes to generous souls when their strength 
stirs in them and they know that the future is theirs? 
No great destiny ever yet came to a nation whose 
people were laggards or faint-hearted. No great des- 
tiny ever yet came to a people walking with their eyes 
on the ground and their faces shrouded in gloom. 
No great destiny ever yet came to a people who feared 
the future, who feared failure more than they hoped 
for success. With such as these we have no part. 

"We know there are dangers ahead, as we know 
there are evils to fight and overcome, but we feel to 



14 

the full the pulse of the prosperity which we enjoy. 
Stout of heart, we see across the dangers the great 
future that lies beyond, and we rejoice as a giant re- 
freshed, as a strong man girt for the race ; and we go 
down into the arena where the nations strive for mas- 
tery, our hearts lifted with the faith that to us and to 
our children and our children's children, it shall be 
given to maKe this Republic the mightiest among the 
peoples of mankind." 

And now, gentlemen, let me say just one word to you as 
members of the Lincoln Republican Club and of the Young 
Men's Republican Club. For over half a century the Re- 
publican party has pursued its beneficent career, and during 
all that period its principles and its policies have been among 
the greatest factors in our moral and material development. 
The spirit of its leaders who have passed away animates the 
great organization they loved and served. And those who 
follow them are pledged to carry forward the standard 
they bore so worthily. Republicanism is ever aggressive. 
There are no faltering notes in its battle cries. They ring 
true on the great underlying doctrines of free government. 
The party of Lincoln and Grant and Garfield and Arthur, 
of Hayes and Harrison and McKinley and Roosevelt! What 
a heritage! What an inspiration for the future! If we are 
true to their principles we shall stand for clean policies and 
clean politics. We shall point to the record of an unex- 
ampled prosperity. But better a thousand times than this, 
we shall continue to advocate those theories of government 
which teach that material prosperity is but a poor and empty 
thing if accomplished through any sacrifice of the moral 
sense of our people. 



16 

As a nation we must press forward unwaveringly toward 
the goal of wholesome living, both public and private, 
waging never-ceasing warfare upon corruption in all its 
forms, insisting n|)on obedience to law from the highest to 
the humblest. But in dealing with the questions that con- 
front ns we nuist strive more and mor(> to attain that condi- 
tion of national calmness, not of inertness or indecision, 
but of conscious strength that is in keeping with the glory 
and honor and dignity of a i)eo])le who are the heirs of lib- 
erty and to whom the world looks for the realization of her 
priceless })rivileges. 



